It feels like déjà vu all over again.
Around this same time in 2022, the New York Times published an investigation of sports betting (“A Risky Wager”) that sought to explain to readers how the industry had grown so large and what it all meant. Those stories highlighted lobbying efforts, advertising practices, and tax-related issues.
It was a widely read series, but it was not beloved by all. There was pushback from the industry, namely, the American Gaming Association, which alleged there were “several mischaracterizations” in the Times' reporting.
Here we go again
Two years later, legal sports betting is again facing a round of bad press from mainstream media. The Atlantic arguably got the ball rolling in September with an article headlined “Legalizing Sports Gambling Was a Huge Mistake.”
Since then we’ve had former presidential candidate Andrew Yang arguing for a “rethink” of online sports betting regulation, lawsuits, and two senators seeking an investigation over concerns of “anticompetitive” activity.
On Thursday, the pushback came again, and once more from the AGA. The industry group’s president and CEO, Bill Miller, had a piece published by Newsweek, which argued against claims made of late about event wagering.
“Demonizing this industry or its consumers based on worst-case scenarios only undermines the progress made in creating a safe and regulated marketplace,” Miller wrote.
Here's American Gaming Association President and CEO Bill Miller firing back at the latest round of bad press for legal sports betting and its practitioners. Feels like we are reliving 2022 after the NYT's sports betting series. pic.twitter.com/ARv4ymcr6A
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) December 12, 2024
You get the idea. It feels a bit like 2022 all over again. And if that’s the case, the sports betting industry could be in for some changes in the New Year, no matter how hard or factual the pushback. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Following the 2022 NYT series, there were changes. Legislators and regulators tweaked laws and rules, and companies adjusted how they do business. Advertising policies were tightened, partnerships were dropped, and tax regimes were adjusted.
There is reason to believe change will follow this year’s criticism as well. Regulators and lawmakers read the news like everyone else, and those articles can nudge them toward action.
Tweaking time
Furthermore, the calendar suggests the ball is already rolling. The U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee, for instance, will meet next week for a hearing titled "America’s High-Stakes Bet on Legalized Sports Gambling.”
While there’s no telling where federal lawmakers will go from there, they are at least thinking about sports betting, and there is legislation for them to consider, such as the SAFE Bet Act. Two senators also penned a letter last week seeking an antitrust investigation of DraftKings and FanDuel over concerns about alleged “anticompetitive” conduct by those companies.
There is state-level legislation pending and still to come as well. New Jersey is still weighing whether to scrap college player prop betting, Michigan lawmakers are pondering a slight tax hike, and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission wants data about sports bettor limiting and VIPs who “exhibit losing behavior.”
We could see more legislative or regulatory tweaks in the year to come, as we did in 2022. However, despite the fallout from 2022, the industry survived and has grown even larger. More states have legalized and launched sports betting since.
It's not the end of the world as we know it
And, again, there is reason to believe the industry will survive and expand following the concerns raised this year.
“We believe the proliferation of sports betting and iGaming will continue,” Jefferies analyst David Katz wrote this week in a note to clients. “We continue to monitor the possibilities of legalization in Texas and Georgia in 2025 (with Missouri officially passing via Amendment 2 earlier this month) and California longer term.”
There are also facts that remain true and supportive of legal sports betting, such as the overarching one that people like betting on sports and they will continue to do so whether you legalize it or not. At a minimum, legalization and regulation give states the tools they need to have a say in how the industry is run, which you don’t get with offshore and illegal operators.
“Tools like deposit limits, time limits, and exclusion options are standard offerings by licensed operators,” Miller wrote in Newsweek. “These resources allow consumers to control their engagement and set boundaries. In contrast, illegal operators—who thrived unregulated for decades thanks to the previous federal ban—intentionally offered no such safeguards.”
So, yes, it’s been a rough go for the sports betting industry lately. But it was tough in, 2022 too, and the industry is still here. It will almost certainly still be there when we go through this again in 2026, and perhaps even better for having gotten the coverage it did in 2022 and 2024.
